They’ve made thousands of Muni rides possible each day. And after more than 25 busy years of transit transactions, our old on-board fare machines are ready to be retired.

So starting this week, we’re introducing new, smarter fareboxes that will dispense a new type of Muni ticket on all Muni vehicles. These will be installed on all Muni vehicles over the course of the year, starting with our longer, 60-foot buses.

For the first time on Muni, the new fare machines will print transaction details on tickets, which will help us keep better track of fare payments and understand how people use Muni. This more secure transaction method will also prevent the theft of Muni transfers and help keep operators safe.

So, what’s new about using Muni’s new fareboxes? Here’s everything you need to know.

As we wrote in April, red transit-only lanes work. And now, our efforts to pioneer them have taken a step forward: State and federal agencies gave San Francisco the green light to give more transit lanes the red paint treatment.

Last week San Francisco Unified School District's incoming sixth-graders at four middle schools went straight to their new campuses despite the summer break to learn the ropes for success beyond elementary school. The students who will step up to middle school this fall face new challenges such as taking public transportation to school independently, using lockers, managing relationships with new peers, and in new places, such as social media. For the past two years, the SFMTA has been pleased to participate in helping students better understand their transportation options.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to keep Muni's cable cars on the road year after year?

In the first of a series of posts, we'll give you an inside look at the meticulous work underway to restore one of Muni's long-running cable cars: Powell Street Cable Car 23.

In a little-known carpentry shop in the Dogpatch neighborhood, Muni's skilled craftspeople are combining their incredible carpentry skills and knowledge of the construction of cable cars to breathe new life into Cable Car 23, which has served the city for nearly 130 years.

A rendering of Geary at Leavenworth Street with proposed Muni and safety upgrades.

We're looking for members to join our new Geary Community Advisory Committee (CAC), where you can help shape our Geary Rapid plans to make the streets along Muni’s 38 Geary route safer, more efficient and more vibrant for everyone.

The Geary CAC will provide input on decisions as we design and implement improvements along Geary Boulevard, Geary and O’Farrell streets. People who live, work, visit and travel on Geary are encouraged to apply.

The project team has proposed improvements on Geary to make streets safer – especially for people walking – and Muni service faster and more reliable to meet rising transportation demands in the years to come.

This week at The Embarcadero and North Point Street, we installed a new bicycle traffic signal and waiting area for left turns.

As we reimagine The Embarcadero as a better place to walk and bike along San Francisco's picturesque waterfront, we're installing a few initial upgrades this summer and measuring their impact.

The latest improvements came this week at The Embarcadero and North Point Street, where there's a new bicycle traffic signal and green-colored road markings to make left turns easier for people on bikes.

These kinds of small-scale upgrades add up to make streets safer, more comfortable and more intuitive for everyone to use. As we work with the community to develop a larger vision in the Embarcadero Enhancement Project, we wanted to make relatively quick, low-cost improvements that don't have to wait.

Here are the walking and biking improvements in store for The Embarcadero this summer – and those already in place.

The work of Monica Tiulesci (shown) and four other artists was displayed on Muni buses earlier this year. Photo: SF Beautiful

Muni Art will return for its third year in 2018, and we're calling for Bay Area artists to create breathtaking art to display for the people who make more than 700,000 trips on Muni every day.

For the first time, our effort to transform ordinary Muni buses into art galleries will go beyond visual art. In addition to our continued collaboration with San Francisco Beautiful and Supervisor London Breed, we’ve partnered with the Poetry Society of America to incorporate local poetry as part of Muni Art.